Asthma and attending classes. Be prepared if your child is asthmatic. Information on protocol, medication and policy.
Naturally all parents worry when a new school year begins, will their children be happy in their new classes, will they study and do well, will they make new friends, etc. When a parent has a child with health concerns it is going to cause more worry, such as when a child as asthma.
The school will need to be notified of the health problem and if necessary they will need to understand what could occur if the child has problems with asthma during his time at school.
You will need to notify not only the office, teachers, physical education coaches but most of all the school nurse. She will need to have important phone numbers if she needs them and of course your contact phone numbers at work or at home. A doctor's support is also critical. The doctor's office should have reading material for you and also the school.
You will need to let the school know the medications your child is taking and perhaps even have the doctor or his nurse write down all this information for you to take to the school nurse and the teachers in case of emergencies. You might even want to bring an extra inhaler with an aerochamber to the school so that it will be handy in case of an emergency.
Asthma is a distressing form of allergy and can occur in all ages. In the young it is often caused by the bacteria of a cold or other disorders and when the disorder clears up, the asthma does also. There are many other causes for asthma in children, such as damp, cold weather, odors, dust from feathers or dry leaves, and emotional disturbances. Asthma is a disease that narrows the airways in the lungs.
Sudden contraction of smooth muscles that encircle the air passages causes them to become so narrow that little air can reach the lungs. An asthma attack can include a spasm of the larynx, wheezing and breathing difficulty. It can be triggered by an allergy or a respiratory infection.
The symptoms of asthma are due to bronchial obstruction caused by swelling of the mucous membrane lining the lung bronchioles and over-secretion of muscus by the glands of the bronchi. Breathing becomes difficult, following by wheezing and coughing. The breathing muscles and the constrictor muscles of the bronchioles act irregularly producing wheezy sounds. The patient has a feeling of great pressure in the chest and a sense of suffocation. His symptoms are most marked at night or in the early morning. A child with asthma may be a very distressing sight. For among his symptoms there is often a great deal of fear associated with his couching seizures.
Studies have also proven that the role of emotions as a cause of bodily ills is stressed in psychosomatic medical view points at this time. Allergic symptoms are also known to rise from emotional upsets and tensions. Persons under great stress who have asthma already tend to have more attacks and problems. When the tension is gone the attacks sometimes are less frequent.
Your child needs naturally to be aware of his asthma and the disease needs to be fully explained. He needs to know the symptoms of an attack and this will help him to panic less when they do occur. Assure him that someone will be there to help him and that you have made them aware of the asthma and they will know how to handle it to help him and also whom to call for help. It is not an easy situation but with the school and the child being aware it can be a little easier.
